These days, comedian Abbas Wahab performs stand-up in front of audiences across Canada. But for years it was never something he felt he could do.
“I love stand-up, but I come from a very conventional immigrant household with conventional wisdom of becoming a doctor or an engineer,” he said. “I never really liked biology, so I was like, ‘I guess I have to be an engineer.’”
Comedy, however, allowed him to flex his creative muscles in a way engineering never could. After years of wrestling with it, Wahab took the leap and transitioned to performing full-time.
Now on his third tour of Canada, the Toronto-based comedian hasn’t looked back, using stand-up to reconcile his engineering experiences with his Sudanese-Canadian upbringing – while illuminating the broader role comedy can play in society.
Developing a comedic voice
Wahab grew up in London, Ont. after immigrating with his family from Sudan when he was six. Growing up in a predominately white city, he worked to hide his culture from those around him, not wanting to appear different.
“As you grow up, everyone’s like, ‘Be unique.’ When you’re a kid, you don’t want that,” he said. “A lot of my life was pushing my cultural identity to the side.”
Moving to the United States to pursue a career as an automotive engineer, Wahab said he slowly became more and more “depressed.” Watching comedians Bill Burr, Dave Chapelle and Louis C.K. nearly every day, Wahab said the idea he could do the same thing never crossed his mind.
“I went my whole life thinking every performer … they were born gifted, they’re born chosen,” he said. “So I never even gave it the time of day.”
Hitting his lowest point mentally, however, broke this idea.
“Finally, I started searching. I found out where an open mic night was near me, and I started writing for months and months.”
Wahab admits he “bombed” his first show, but each week, he returned and progressively got better – and funnier.
Recognizing the innate humour in Sudanese culture and his personal experiences working in a rigid engineering industry, Wahab now incorporates his heritage into his shows, highlighting the culture he once tried to hide.
Recalling how he believed he was super popular when he was invited to his friends’ houses for dinner only to learn he was there so the parents could make an example of him, is just one way Wahab brings his lived experience to his shows.
“You’d be eating, and their mom would be like, ‘See that, Devin? Abbas eats his carrots. Look at that. He’s not picky. Devin, some kids in Africa have nothing. Tell him, Abbas,” he joked.
Beyond the humour, Wahab feels the stories he shares are ones everyone can relate to and find themselves in.
“It’s an amalgamation of Canadian and immigrant, and I think that just brings some spice to my voice that a lot of people seem to like.”
Wahab’s Calgary stop will see him perform at what has become a comedy club staple across the country – Yuk Yuk’s Comedy Club. Writing a history of the club’s origins for its website, co-founder Joel Axler explains the comedic and emotional power stand-up can have for an audience.
“Millions of fans from coast to coast have likely felt better when they’ve left a good show,” wrote Axler. “I believe that in the very near future we’ll see more humour understood and applied as psychological and medical therapy.”
Beyond the surface
For Wahab, comedy isn’t just a meditative process, it’s also a way to get past some of the filters of society – to say what we otherwise might not say.
“It seems that under the guise of equality and under the guise of openness, less things become okay to talk about,” he said. “I find, ironically, nuance becomes more difficult, and trying to be subtle becomes more difficult.”
Stand-up, however, can be a way to break down those barriers without attempting to gloss over tough topics.
“I think the stage is the place that you’re supposed to shed all of the B.S. of society,” he said. “Comedy is truth. And in the times where filtering and padding and putting Nerf and elbow pads on topics right now – that’s when comedy is the most important.”
Axler also views comedy as a place for honesty. Sharing the club’s journey from a small startup in 1970s Toronto to 14 franchises across the country, he describes comedy as “the ultimate weapon.”
“Now, it seems that every conversation holds enough quiet voltage to ignite a socio-political fight,” Axler writes, adding Yuk Yuk’s aims to uphold “this bastion of free speech.”
Wahab said his upcoming shows are all about sharing his best jokes and stories, whether from his personal experiences and observations, or his travels throughout Canada and Scotland.
Pursuing a comedy career seemed to go against everything Wahab believed he should do, but he said taking the chance has allowed him to find and appreciate his creative and artistic side.
“My first open mic was about eight years ago now. And now it’s just comedy and acting,” he said. “This is the life I’m living now – I’m living it fully.”
Tickets for the Jan. 14 show are available at the door, through Yuk Yuk’s website or at abbaswahab.com.